Story:Star Trek - Infinity/Chapter 8
---- Gro’kog growled. “What the heck is Species 8472?” At that very moment, one of the creatures began crawling its way down the warp core housing; its gaze locked on us. I took a step backwards. “They’re a species that was first discovered by Admiral Janeway, who was a captain at the time. They’re a species similar to the Borg; they both hunt down species and integrate their technology and knowledge into their own. There’s just one difference though.” Denarchia replied, “And what’s that?” I took another step backwards. “The Borg capture their targets. Species 8472 just kill them.” Gro’kog replied, his voice becoming more irritable. “Anything else we should know about these things?” I nodded. “Yeah, they killed the Borg.” A figure materialized in front of me, and I gasped; it was Lt. P’Trell! Dozens of other crew members materialized around the room, all of them armed with phasers. One of the creatures leaped at me, and I let out a scream, but the pain never came. I looked up, half expecting to see Christopher, but to my surprise, it was Nicky who stood over the limp body of the creature. After a few moments--and after two more of the intruders had been gunned down--the remaining creatures vanished in a trail of yellow energy as they were beamed away. I spotted Commander Chekov nearby, and we rushed over to him. Denarchia exclaimed, “Sir, what’s going on?” Chekov switched his phaser’s safety on, and turned to us. “Well, it happened about six hours ago. We detected a bioship that matched the description of Species 8472. We knew that if we fought them head on, we’d lose. So we locked out all access to executive bridge functions, and transferred the rest to engineering. Then we transported down to the planet’s surface, and waited for them to board the ship so we could spring our trap.” Denarchia asked, “What about us? Didn’t you think we might return to the ship while you were gone?” Chekov replied, “We had hoped that you wouldn’t return to the ship until after the threat had passed. At least everyone’s okay.” Denarchia replied, “Actually, that’s not true. Unless you somehow managed to beam Ensign Syln off the ship. Otherwise, they got to him.” At that moment, Lt. Cmdr. Forrester came over to us. “An acceptable loss in order to save the rest of the crew.” ‘She has the heart of a Vulcan,’ I thought to myself. Gro’kog turned to Forrester. “What were they doing in engineering?” Forrester replied, “Species 8472, or ‘Bioleeches’ as some scientists refer to them, have the ability to drain power from certain power sources. We believe they were trying to get to our antideuterium, but the titanium plating on the core made it difficult for them. I don’t think they were able to get much of it.” At that moment, a lt. JG ran up to us. “Commander, the main computer core isn’t responding to our commands.” Forrester turned to him. “Did you try rebooting the system?” The lt. JG replied, “Twice already.” I turned to Forrester. “When we went into sickbay, the EMH was malfunctioning; could they have possibly done something to it and the rest of the ship?” Forrester spoke out loud, “Computer, reactivate executive functions. Authorization: Delta Omega Four-Four-One.” The computer responded, “Command authorization denied.” Chekov also tried his command code, but the computer responded in the same way. Forrester cursed, “The antideuterium must’ve only been their secondary goal.” Chekov and P’Trell hurried off towards the turbolift with the lt. JG following close behind. Forrester turned to Nicky. “Cadet Crusher, I would like you to assist me in dissecting one of the Bioleeches; we may be able to learn something about what they’ve done to the ship. Cadets Gro’kog and Denarchia, you will guard the science lab while we conduct our investigation.” The four of them left, leaving me with Phoebe. She looked quite shaken by the whole ordeal, and I reluctantly said, “Hey Phoebe, you wanna go get something to eat in the mess hall?” She nodded, her eyes still flicking back and forth, almost as if she expected a Bioleech to jump out and attack. We headed in the direction of the cadets’ mess hall. We entered, and Phoebe headed over to the replicators. As I turned around, I spotted somebody else sitting alone at one of the tables; it was Christopher. I walked over to him. “What’re you doing down here?” He glanced up at me. “Oh, hey. The helm is offline, and I’m not much use to them with the repairs, so I decided to come down here.” I replied, “Why aren’t you in the officers’ mess?” He responded, “I feel kinda out of place in there, being the youngest and all. I’m also only one of a few officers who weren’t part of the original crew.” His face fell. “And I feel like I can’t possibly live up to Tabora’s name as the new helmsman. When Forrester suggested that we go down to the planet’s surface, I knew you and the rest of the science team would be put at risk, so I objected.” I frowned. “And what did she say?” He replied, “Acceptable losses.” At that moment, Phoebe came over and sat down. “Commander Forrester gives me the creeps. She almost seems eager to sacrifice us, if that’s what you could call it. The woman has about as much emotion as a Vulcan, and as much desire to make sacrifices as a Klingon.” I replied, “I wouldn’t go quite that far.” Christopher stood up. “Thanks, it was good talking to you again, Destiny.” I almost sensed that he wanted to say more, but he glanced at Phoebe, and I realized he probably didn’t feel comfortable discussing the matter any further in front of Phoebe. I waved as he left, and Phoebe said, “So, have you ever seen any old earth shows?” ---- After I had finished eating--and listening to Phoebe talk about a dozen of what had to have been the worst romance stories in existence--I headed off to my quarters. I found Nicky waiting for me on her bed. I sat down on mine and we stared at each other for a moment. I broke the silence, “So, what did you and Commander Forrester find out about the Bioleeches?” Nicky replied, “Well, they’re pretty similar to the ones that Voyager discovered back in 2373, although there are some differences. These ones are smaller and physically weaker, but most notably, they are barely telepathic.” I frowned, “That’s strange.” She replied, “Ah, but it gets even stranger. It doesn’t appear to be genetic; they’re infected with some sort of virus that’s slowly weakening their telepathic abilities.” I responded, “So, does this have anything to do with what they did to the ship, and why?” Nicky replied, “Well, as far as we can tell, they didn’t get any of our antideuterium. As for what they did to the ship; Commander Forrester thinks they tried to hack into the ship, but failed. We’re not exactly sure why they attacked us, or how they even knew we were here.” I was reminded of the old man I had met while I was in Guandi Talek; had he been talking about the Bioleeches when he had warned me about creatures who took ships? Nicky spoke up. “Enough talk about the Bioleeches; I want to hear about what I missed while I was asleep.” I flinched as she said the word asleep; how could she be so quick to brush off her near-death experience? I replied, “You did miss quite a bit. Christopher got promoted to Ensign.” She grinned. “Do you still think he looks cute in the black uniform?” I replied, “I barely pay attention to the uniform, after all-” Nicky cut in, “After all, his eyes are sooo distracting.” I blushed, and she laughed for a moment until I glared at her. She quickly straightened her face. “What else happened?” I looked solemnly at the ground. “Lieutenant Tabora died.” She looked down. “Yeah, I heard about that. Any idea how you’re going to finish your training now?” I jumped to my feet. “Who cares about my stupid training?! A woman died Nicky! She had a family, and friends! How do you think they’re going to feel?!” Nicky’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” I quickly sat back down. “No, I’m sorry Nicky. I didn’t mean to snap like that. I’m just a little shaken up by how many people I’ve had to watch die. First it was Tabora, then Syln. Who’s next? Commander Chekov? You? Me?” Nicky placed a hand on my shoulder. “Des, I can promise you, neither of us is going to die out here.” I looked her in the eye. “You can’t promise that.” She looked concerningly at me. “Des, if you wanna talk about it-” I cut her off, “I don’t. All I need is some sleep, and I’ll be just fine.” I shook her arm off my shoulder and pulled away from her. I quickly got up and moved to my bed. Before she could say anything, I turned my back to her and pulled the covers over my head. A moment later I poked an eye out and saw the lights dim. I heard Nicky say quietly, “Goodnight Des.” I didn’t reply. I was too busy trying to hold the tears in. As I closed my eyes, the only thing I could thing about was Tabora’s cold lifeless body, and the sound of her heart rate monitor flatlining…